I've finished reading this book few weeks back and have to say, one of the best novels I've read. This's the story of Victor Soorathissa, a profound businessman born to a poor family in the Sabaragamuwa province. They were not only poor, heavily suffered and badly neglected, because of the caste system dominated the country those days. The biological father of Victor aka 'Kuda baba henaya' was a Govigama caste person born to a respectable family and the biological mother who raised him alone was from Dhobi caste. Dhobi/ Hena/ Rajaka/ Rada was accepted as a lower caste and all of us know how good we are, South Asians looking down, denouncing others :).
The author, Mahinda Prasad Masimbula has created a masterpiece around this and the language, writing style are very impressive.
The price of this book is only Rs.300/=. I recommend this book to any reader above 16 years. If you're a parent, first read the book and then decide the correct time to allow your child to read the book, because you're the only person who knows about your kid's emotional intelligence level :).
Question - What is Senkottan?
I need to thank the person who raised this question in a Facebook group, "Poth Kiyawana Ayata".
You can google "Marking Nut Tree" to find more about this fruit, it looks same as a cashew nut. Marking Nuts (Senkottan) is actually a herb, botanical name is Semecarpus anacardium. As the fruit is bitter, I don't think you can enjoy eating it. However, the seeds, mature fruits, gum and oil of this tree are used for many different purposes. I learnt this herb is using for Leprosy and Elephantiasis.
For the curious minds, have a look at this wiki page to learn more about the 'Senkottan' tree.
In here I've extracted few of my favorite paragraphs and the cover page of the book:
I just finished reading this book and im soaked with tears 💔 definitely a must read book for teenage girls.
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